


Hey There, Harley

by zomgenius



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Humanstuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-01-04
Updated: 2012-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-28 22:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/312927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zomgenius/pseuds/zomgenius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an alternate universe, the games of Sburb and Sgrub never happened. The trolls are part of Earth society; they're humans now. The kids have all grown up. And finally, it's time for all of them to meet face-to-face... At Skaianet University. Even if they never played the game, the game still has ways of playing them. Now that the friends have all been able to meet up for the first time, shenanigans start happening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is mainly a Dave/Jade story, although many other characters will be present and other ships will set sail. :B
> 
> Similarities between real things and things in the story are coincidental; for instance, I didn't realize KDR was a real fraternity until I looked it up. Whoops!

Kappa Delta Rho wasn’t necessarily the largest fraternity on the Skaianet University campus, but it was one of the more well-known ones. If you were looking for a good time, KDR was the place to go. If you were looking for a small, selective, and rather elite fraternity, KDR was the place to go. And if you just wanted to get drunk off your ass, KDR was most definitely the place to go. After being founded shortly after the university itself, Kappa Delta Rho became notorious for its parties, select members, and well-stocked bar. It was only a matter of time, then, before the Strider brothers became a part of it.

Dave Strider was much less enthusiastic about the whole party scene than one would guess from first glace – lean college freshman, fluffy blonde hair, a pair of shades always present; Dave was more or less the poster boy for everything KDR aspired for its members to be. Well, perhaps without the freshman aspect. But Dave showed no interest in KDR upon acceptance into Skaianet University. In fact, if it wasn’t for the urging (and then forcing) of his brother – who just so happened to be the president of KDR – Dave wouldn’t even be caught dead at one of these frat houses. The entire scene was stupid; all it amounted to was a bunch of drunken jocks rubbing themselves over equally sloshed slutty girls in a dark room to shitty music. Yeah, best time ever. But his older brother insisted, and so Dave was instantly accepted into KDR – a special case, actually. Freshman typically had to be subjected to the pledge initiation before becoming a true KDR brother, but not Dave. But there was little he could do about things when Bro insisted, and so… Here he was.

It was the first party of the school year; with the exception of the Halloween party (where the costume contest judged based on how revealing your costume was) and the New Year’s Party (where if you weren’t drinking, you had to get the fuck out of the house,) the opening party was the biggest of the year. Partygoers from all over campus, bubbly freshman trying to break into the college scene, and rival fraternities alike all made their way over to the Kappa Delta Rho house for a night of black lights, highlighters, alcohol, and fresh jams.

Dave stood behind his turntables in the living room of the frat house, spinning a few records and nodding almost imperceptibly to the pounding music. The turntables were a new addition to the house from Bro – partially to provide better entertainment for party guests, and partially to placate Dave’s seething indifference. Either way, it gave Dave a chance to forget the things going on around him and just tune out, in a way. At the very least, he could ignore the idiots trying to talk to him at these parties and blame it on the music being too loud. Yeah, that’d work.

But when he noticed his bro John sidle up to the turntables, Dave flipped a few dials and set the turntables to auto-play, then hopped down off the mini-stage to chat.

“Hey, Dave,” John yelled, trying his best to make sure his voice could be heard over the music.

“Sup?” Dave nodded, barely raising his voice at all. He looked John over – it was a little strange seeing him here. He honestly didn’t expect Egbert to show up to one of these things. But then again, it was the first party of the year – could he even resist that?

“This is a pretty big party! I mean, everyone we know is here! Hehe, it’s almost like a scene from one of those movies we used to watch,” John laughed, motioning at the crowd.

Dave crossed his arms. “You,” he corrected, “you used to watch ‘em. Shitty teen dramas aren’t exactly high on my list of must-see movies, Egbert.”

John laughed again, and took a swig of his… was that apple juice? “Well, you know, it’s still true! Everyone and their mom is here. Well, maybe not literally their mom, but you get what I mean. It’d be weird if someone’s mom came with them to one of these, don’t you think?”

“Uh, right. Unless their mom’s hot, I guess.”

“Haha, yeah! Wait, uh… Oh, heeeey, have you seen Jade or Rose around here anywhere? I know I saw them come in, but I can’t seem to find them now.”

“Miss Grim-snark and Derpy Hooves? Nah, haven’t seen ‘em,” Dave shrugged. “But then again, I’ve been pretty damn busy with these turntables. I mean, you should see the waves of broads I have to deal with. They fucking line up to try and touch the Strider.”

“Yeah, I know how that is!” John grinned a wide smile. Dave’s eyes narrowed as he looked at John – something was off.

“Hey, Egbert, lemme get a drink of your juice there,” he said, taking the bottle right out of John’s hand. As expected, the label read ‘APPLE JUICE!’ Dave opened it, and the smell of apples wafted out at him. Apples and… wait, was that vodka? He glanced back up at John, who was happily grinning at the large crowd. Yep. It was vodka. Dave sighed, and put the cap back on the bottle. He briefly wondered who would give John vodka that was poorly disguised as apple juice.

“Oh, are you done with it?” John asked, extending his arm to take back the bottle.

“John, who gave you this apple juice?”

“Huh? Oh! That was from Karkat!”

“Karkat, huh? Figures,” Dave scoffed. Leave it to Vantas to fuck with Egbert in the stupidest ways possible. “John, isn’t ‘Little Monsters’ one of your favorite movies?”

John’s face lit up. “Oh, yeah! It is, haha, why do you ask?”

“What have we learned about apple juice from that movie, Egbert?”

“Uh… You tell me! Man, Dave, haven’t you seen that movie too? I swear we’ve had this conversation like a million times,” John giggled, in his weird toothy way.

Dave sighed. “We don’t drink apple juice, Egbert, remember?”

“Huh? Nah! That only applies to apple juice in closets, Dave! Jeez, even babbies know that one! Have you been drinking tonight or something?” Dave blinked. He let his hand hit his forehead, shook his head slightly, and then looked back at John.

“Come on, Egbert, we’re gonna go get you some water,” Dave said, and turned to walk towards the frat house’s kitchen.

“Huh? But my apple juice is just fine!” John protested. Begrudgingly, he followed Dave as he strode into the kitchen.


	2. Chapter 2

Dave set the faux-juice on the counter, walked past one of the nervous pledges manning the alcohol bar, and grabbed a glass. He slid across the floor to the sink, turned the knob, and let cold water fill the cup. He turned to hand it to John, who stopped mid-sip of his juice. The two stared at each other for a second or two, and slowly, John lowered the bottle and set it back on the counter. The pair stood there for a beat longer; Dave smirked, and John burst into laughter. Dave followed suit, although his laughter wasn’t nearly as exuberant as John’s. After the laughter settled down, Dave offered the cup to John, and they went to go sit on the back deck.

The party was just as loud as crazy outside as it was inside. Dave thought for a moment that it was lucky they never had the cops called on them – but then again, Bro was president, and who the hell knew what kind of connections he had. John took a couple of sips of his water. He looked as if he was about to start up a conversation, when Dave interrupted his train of thought.

“Why’re you looking for Harley and Lalonde, anyway?” he asked, putting his hands behind his head. He leaned back, getting more comfortable – or at least as comfortable as he could get on a wooden bench.

“Those two? Oh, hehe. Well, I dunno! I was just kind of hanging out and talking to a few random people when Karkat showed up and gave me that juice.” His fingers tapped the cup as he talked. “And then after a little while, I just got to thinking, ‘John, what are you doing? You’re all by yourself! You should go find your friends!’ So, I found you, and then I was gonna find Rose and Jade, so the four of us could hang out again, just like we used to, before things got so busy!”

Dave just stared out at the partygoers on the lawn. The four of them had gotten pretty busy lately. The four of them had all graduated from their separate schools, and Jade had finished her homeschooling. And following that, they all kind of joked about attending the same school so that they could actually hang out with one another instead of just online. But with Jade being out in the middle of the Pacific, Rose applying to the Ivy Leagues, John inheriting the (mostly unwanted) Crocker Cooking Company from his Nanna’s will, and Dave following in Bro’s footsteps as usual, it didn’t seem like their childhood plans would work out. And somehow, here they all were – the original four best friends, in the same school, and none of them had even had the chance to properly hang out as a group together yet. Sure, they had all had their initial meeting and excitement when they arrived, but things with orientation and enrollment and all that jazz had just been so time-consuming. And then throw classes into the mix once those started, and things just got even more difficult.

John started talking again. “And besides, haven’t you ever thought about them? Or, well, just Jade in your case.”

Dave raised an eyebrow, barely visible over his giant shades. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know,” John whispered, “Oh, come on, don’t make me say it. I guess I could ask that about any of our friends, really. But I mean, remember when Karkat tried tricking me all those years ago with that silly diagram?” He chuckled. “Man, he had me believing that I was actually going to marry Rose for the longest time!”

Dave crossed his arms. “Yeah, I don’t even remember how we got you to stop believing that asshole,” he quipped.

“I know, me either!” John smiled again. “But it was still kind of nice. I mean, I had the biggest crush on her for a while.”

“What am I now, your psychiatrist? That’s Lalonde’s job.”

“But that’s the thing! I couldn’t talk to her about this – I mean, it was about her! And you know Rose, she’d just start psychoanalyzing me instead.”

“Yeah, that broad could psychoanalyze a brick wall, and find out it has some kind of identity crisis or something. Like it’s been thinking it was a shed its whole life.”

“Exactly my point! But nah, that was in the past. Haha, besides, things would have gotten awkward if she and I had been together, you know? Breaking up the magic four friends and making it the couple and two friends… Things like that never work well. At least, not in the movies.”

“Are our lives a movie, Egbert? Who’s the main protagonist here? Please don’t fucking say Nic Cage, I don’t think I can handle being a support character in one of his awful movies,” Dave chuckled slightly.

John laughed loudly. “No way, Nic Cage is already in a bunch of movies, and is probably taking care of his loving wife and daughter these days!”

“Does he even have a loving wife and daughter?”

“I think it’s a son, actually.”

“He better be getting that kid a bunny for every damn holiday. Kids love bunnies.”

John grinned, and Dave afforded him a small smile. It was pretty nice being able to actually chat with his best friend like this, and in person too. He stood up and stretched his legs a little, then looked back at John… who had promptly drifted off into a nap. Great.

“Egbert,” Dave said, nudging him. “Yo, Egbert, wake up. What are you, ten? It’s barely even midnight.” John continued snoring, and Dave sighed. He tried shaking John’s shoulder to no avail, and finally realized he was going to have to carry the guy upstairs. That was bound to look weird. He squatted down in front of the bench, took John’s hands, and wrapped them around his neck. The Dave leaned against the bench, grabbed John’s legs, and pulled him into a piggyback position. He stood up, a little shakily.

“Fuck, Egbert, this is the last time you’re drinking. And how much do you even weigh? God damn, you need to cut back on the cakes or something.” He hoisted John onto his back a little more, and John responded with a snore. Dave rolled his eyes. “I know you just found out you’re getting your grandma’s company and all, but that doesn’t mean you have to start liking her shitty confectionaries as well, damn.”

Dave began walking towards the door. He rounded the corner of the bench…

And immediately tripped over some bag, just sitting on the ground. Immediately, a chain of reactions fell into place, like dominoes. Dave stumbled forward and hit the sliding glass door. He lost his grip on John’s legs as he tried to steady himself, and John tumbled backwards to the ground. Even more unbalanced from the sudden loss of weight, Dave toppled backwards as well, falling over sleeping John’s legs, and nearly down the stairs.

Dave sat up and rubbed his head. Fuck, that hurt. Maybe they really were in one of John’s shitty movies, he thought, and looked around for potential cameras recording the action. Instead, he saw a couple of people looking over, laughing and pointing. Yeah, look at the drunken freshmen, those poor saps just can’t hold a drink, huh? He began to scowl at the crowd of people, but immediately corrected his expression into a more neutral one. Then he started noticing how much brighter the faces were. Did he have a concussion or something? Dave rubbed his face, then noticed the difference: his glasses had fallen off during the fall, and he was now…

“Coolkid’s lost their cool factor now, huh?”

Dave closed his eyes and sighed loudly, exasperatingly. “Not now, Pyrope.”

“Hehehe, what’s wrong, Dave? Had a little too much liquor tonight? Poor babby can’t hold a drink, it seems!” Terezi cackled, obviously enjoying the situation.

Dave gave her a look at seemed to shoot daggers before realizing she wouldn’t be able to see it anyway. He saw his glasses lying on the deck by John, who was still asleep as if he were dead. Dave stood, trying not to audibly wince in front of the blind girl; he’d never hear the end of it. He picked up his glasses, slipped them back on, and gave John a nudge with his foot. John snored again and rolled over, mumbling something about clowns. Dave shook his head. What the hell did he trip on, anyway?

He glanced over at the ground, where a small bag was sitting. It was pretty simple-looking. It was black, crocheted with a drawstring to keep it closed. Probably some girl’s, who left it here after one drink too many. Dave picked it up to look at it, silently cursing it for being in the way.

“Dave? Helloooo? What, are you going to pout now? If I didn’t know better, I’d say that I could almost smell your lameness!”

“Yeah, sure, Terezi,” he replied. Great, now he couldn’t even come up with a decent comeback. Maybe he had hit his head a bit too hard. “Maybe you’re smelling John, he’s the one that decided to throw back some fake apple juice. Oh, which was provided by your boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend? Ha! He knows we’re only friends with benefits. He couldn’t have this unless I gave it to him.”

Dave tried to not visualize the likely horrifying mental image, and slung the bag over his shoulder absentmindedly. “Right,” he said. “Then maybe he was trying to get Egbert drunk enough to get into his pants then. Way to go, Vantas. Gives all new meaning to ‘backdoor man.’”

Terezi laughed nigh insanely. “Oh man, I need to go tell him that one! Hehe, alright Strider, you can keep your coolkid title, but just this time!” She walked off, her cane tapping the way, searching for Karkat.

“Yeah, great, thanks. And thanks for helping me get ectoBeerologist indoors.”

Dave looked down at (still sleeping) John. This was going to be a long night.


	3. Chapter 3

“I don’t see why I have to help you with this. What, are you not strong enough?”

“Just shut up and help me carry him, Serket.”

“Touchy, touchy, aren’t we?”

Dave had stopped Vriska outside as she walked past him, still staring at John. After letting her laugh her ass off for a while, he finally persuaded her to help him carry John indoors and upstairs. He figured she still had her stupid crush on John, or at least he could use that as blackmail to get her to help. No one probably cared who she used to like as a middle schooler, but apparently,t hat kind of thing mattered to her. And so, she was going to make every joke she could at Dave’s expense. It was getting tiring.

“You know you’re going to owe me for this, right?” she asked Dave, beginning their trek up the staircase in the main room of the house.

“No, actually, I just figured you’d help me out of the kindness of your heart. Oh, wait, you don’t have one. Is that cause you’re a bitch, or because the lush here stole it from you?” Dave replied, snapping back at her. The pair did not exactly get along on the best of terms. Vriska fumed.

“I don’t know what that blind girl sees in you, I mean, seriously. You’re a total ass,” she grumbled, frowning at him. “And you carry a purse. Totally cool, Strider.”

“What?” Dave looked down, noticing the bag swinging by his side as they walked upstairs. He had forgotten it was even there. “Nah,” he replied, attempting to cover his tracks. “Some girl shoved this at me while we were chatting, and she left to get us drinks. That’s when Johnny Boy here passed out.”

“Oh, right. So what was her name, Mister Smooth Operator?”

“Yeah, you know, I don’t even remember. Don’t think I asked her.”

“Uh-huh. Suuuuuuuure, I believe you,” Vriska smirked.

“Great, then this conversation is over,” he retorted.

They had arrived in front of Dave’s room, so he put John’s feet down and unlocked the door. He opened it, picked up the sleeping boy’s feet again, and led him into the room. With a heft, Dave and Vriska plopped John onto the bed, where he instantly rolled around and got comfortable.

“Awh, look. He’s kind of—“

“Cool, thanks, you can leave now,” Dave interrupted.

“How rude! I think I should maybe stay to make sure he’s okay. I mean, if you’re gonna get him totally plastered, and then can’t even manage to get him up here by yourself, you’re not exactly fit to be taking care of him in the first place, huh?” Vriska smiled cruelly.

Dave walked over to the opened door, and motioned out of it. “Get the fuck out, Serket. You helped me out, thanks for that. But that doesn’t turn my room into a fucking museum where John is the main exhibit to ogle.”

Vriska huffed, and defeated, stomped out of the room. Dave began shutting the door when she yelled back at him. “Tell mystery girl I’m sorry she has to deal with such a dick!”

“Yeah, maybe then she’ll want to go be with a bitch instead, huh?” He slammed the door and twisted the lock. He had to give John some kind of props for dealing with her; Vriska was a handful, even more so than Terezi.

Dave walked over to his desk and dropped the bag onto the floor. He sat down, finally noticing how sore he was; he hurt nearly everywhere. He grabbed a few ibuprofen from a bottle nearby and took them, removed his glasses and set them on the desk, then rested his head in his hands for a little bit while he waited for the pounding to cease. For a while, it felt as if his head pounded in time with the music emanating from downstairs; it was annoying as hell, especially when it came to the faster songs. Eventually, though, the pain drew to an end, and he could at least focus a little more on the things around him.  
He glanced at the clock on the wall; it was a little past one in the morning. Dave took off his shoes, and then looked around his room. It was a pretty small room, with only one bed – and that was taken. It looked like he was going to have to make due on the floor for sleeping. He grabbed a few pillows around John, and threw them on the floor, then retrieved the extra blanket from the closet. Not the best of beds, but it would do. He kicked off his shoes, threw on a pair of sweatpants instead of his typical jeans, and sat down on the floor. He looked around the room a bit, and then noticed the purse again. That stupid thing.

“What the hell do they even keep in those things?” Dave muttered, crawling over the floor to reach for the bag. “Thing was hard as a rock when I tripped over it.”

He moved back to his spot, purse in hand, and clicked on the bedside table lamp. He leaned against his bed, and opened the drawstrings of the purse. If he was gonna have to be humiliated by tripping over it, ridiculed for carrying it, and then still be stuck with the damn thing in the end, he sure as hell deserved to get to look through it. He didn’t plan on taking anything; he wasn’t that much of a dick, as Vriska put it. But nevertheless, he was curious.  
He reached into the bag and pulled out another small bag – a coin purse with a floral print. How adorable. He dropped it on the floor with a clink, and went back to digging through the bag. He found a few pens and pencils, and set those on the floor as well. The pens were the kind with bobbleheads on the end; the kind kids in elementary school collect. There was a dog one, a cat, even a bunny. Dave sighed. Typical girl, of course she would have some sort of super-cute accessories and items. He took out a tiny hairbrush, some eyeliner, and some perfume, and dropped those on the ground. He looked at the perfume bottle. It was green, and shaped like a diamond. It was a pretty bottle, all things considered.

Slightly intrigued, he picked it up. He set the bag down, and turned the bottle over in his hands. It was about half-full, so whoever the girl was, she used it often. The label on the bottom read ‘BELIEVE,’ as did the very top of the lid. Dave opened it to try and smell it, but he couldn’t. He lightly pressed down on the spritzer, and immediately, a mist of perfume shot out from the bottle, right into his face. He began coughing furiously, trying to get the fragrance out of his lungs. John finally woke up a bit and rolled over.

“What’s going on?” he mumbled, groggily looking over at Dave, who was still hacking up a lung.

“Nothing,” Dave coughed. “Don’t worry about it.” John waved a hand at him, and fell right back asleep.

Dave drew in a breath of fresh air after the mist had settled. The slight smell of flowers was still in the air. Flowers and something else he didn’t quite know – something warm. And… oranges. It reminded him of summer, or what summer might be like in Florida or some other tropical place, filled with flora.  
He shook his head a little. The sudden perfume to the face and coughing fit brought his headache back, and he suddenly wasn’t much in the mood for snooping around some chick’s purse. He threw the contents on the floor back into the bag, and stuffed it under the bed. He laid down, rested his throbbing head on the pillows, and covered himself with the blanket.

Dave shut his eyes, and fell asleep with the smell of summer surrounding him.


	4. Chapter 4

Like clockwork, John woke up at about nine the next morning, bright as the sun outside. No headache, not sore at all. He seemed to survive the previous night without a single scratch – or the memories of it. He looked around the room, slightly confused as to his new surroundings, when he noticed Dave sprawled across the floor, tangled in a mess of blanket, shirt slightly askew, hair messier than a bird’s nest. John leaned over the edge of the bed, peering at the sleeping blonde. He outstretched his arm and poked Dave on the forehead. Dave groaned slightly and tried to bat away the offender in his sleep. John grinned and continued poking Dave, who tried to ineffectively make him stop before dropping his arm and falling further into sleep again. After a few more instances of this, Dave’s hand shot up in a flash and grabbed John’s wrist mid-poke. John blinked in surprise, and Dave groggily opened his eyes.

“What are you even doing?” he mumbled sleepily, still holding onto John’s wrist.

“Uh…” John stammered. “Good morning, sunshine!!” He grinned. Dave opened one eye slightly and looked at John’s goofy face, then let go of his wrist. He dropped his arm over his eyes and let out a breath. Since John was awake, he figured he might as well get up too. No point in being asleep when John was likely to have some sort of clumsy attack and break a window or something.

Dave sat up, eyes still closed, then slowly got up off the floor. He still hurt everywhere; the sleep did not help the casualties from the fall whatsoever. He cracked his knuckles and stretched, then put on his sunglasses. He sat in the chair at his desk and looked over at John.  
“You’re rather chipper in the morning,” he said in a low, sleep-filled voice.

“Haha, I guess so. I don’t really know why, though,” John replied with a nonchalant shrug. “Oh, hey, speaking of not knowing why… I don’t remember getting here, haha! Last thing I do remember was getting that apple juice from Karkat.”

Dave shook his head and turned to face his desk. “Man,” he started. “You do not even want to know.”

“Wait, what? Was it that bad? Oh… Oh God, I didn’t do anything weird, did I? What happened?”

“Don’t have an aneurysm on me, Ebgert. You just got a little drunk, talked about your love life, and then passed out. You know, the usual.”

“The usual..? Haha, well, I guess it wasn’t all that bad, then! Phew, you had me worried there for a sec, Dave!”

“Oh, yeah, and then I tried getting you upstairs, and Serket had to help me. She was pretty much ogling your hot bod the whole time.”

John’s face started turning red. “No way, you’re joking.”

Dave looked at John through his sunglasses. “Does this face lie, Egbert?”

“Whoa, I guess not,” John replied. “So, what? Does that mean Vriska has a thing for me or something? Haha, maybe I’ll dress up like Nic Cage for the Halloween party here, that’ll catch her attention for sure!”

Dave shuddered. “Okay, first, no Nic Cage, ever. Not even ironically. Second, I don’t care if they’re in this asshole factory frat house, fuck these parties.”

John stared at John. “Yikes, someone’s upset.”

“No,” Dave sighed. “Just still waking up, I guess. But seriously, these parties are more trouble than they’re worth so far.”  
“But there’s only been one.”

“Yeah, well, they’re par for the course, then. I dunno, I’m sure Bro will shoehorn me into the next party too, so I might as well get used to these.”

“Exactly!” John agreed. “Besides, they’re part of our whole ‘college experience!’ Hehe, don’t you want to be like the actors in all those movies about college?”

“Nah, I’ll pass,” Dave said, rising up from his chair. He walked over to the door. “I’m gonna go get something to eat, you coming?”

“Oh, sure!” John hopped out of bed, happy and exuberant. Dave looked at him, completely deadpan and still in sleep mode. They were like two opposite sides of the spectrum.

Dave slowly opened the door and looked into the hallway. He didn’t want any of the frat brothers to randomly come out and make some offhand comment about he and John getting it on or something. Yeah, that’d be a perfect greeting. The coast was clear, so he stepped out and started walking to the stairs. No one would probably be up before noon around here, anyway. Not after last night, at least. The duo descended the staircase into the main room, which was – to no one’s surprise – completely trashed. Dave nearly had to wade through a sea of empty cups and bottles to get to the kitchen. He opened up the fridge to get some kind of food, but it was empty, as were the pantries and the cupboards. There was nothing left over from the party, either.  
“Fuck,” Dave muttered, shutting the doors to a cupboard.

“I guess food’s out of the question, huh?” John asked. His stomach rumbled as if objecting to the situation.

“Yeah, looks like it,” Dave replied. “Oh well, we might as well ollies outie anyway, so we aren’t stuck with cleaning up this trash heap.”

“Don’t the pledges take care of that?”

“Maybe, but they’re gonna need more than just one or two pledge plebs. Wait in the entryway, let me grab my wallet, and we’ll go walk somewhere.”

Dave ran back upstairs and jumped into a different pair of pants. He grabbed his wallet and stuck it in his pocket. He was just about to leave the room again when he hesitated. He turned around, got his backpack, and threw mystery girl’s purse into it. At least then he wouldn’t look weird carrying it around. He threw in a notebook or two so it didn’t look weird, and then jogged back down the stairs to meet John.

“Let’s go.”


	5. Chapter 5

The front yard of the Kappa Delta Rho house was just as filthy as the inside; whichever pledges were forced to clean up the mess were in for a hell of a time – probably more than they signed up for. Both Dave and John stepped over cups, bottles, and other assorted trash while making their way to the sidewalk. Dave silently thanked Bro for skipping him directly through the pledge status, even if he didn’t want to be in the fraternity in the first place.

“So,” John began, tripping over an errant beer bottle, “where are we headed, anyway?”

“Beats me,” Dave replied with a shrug. “I figured we’d just head further into campus and check out what’s there.”

“Yeah, we probably should actually learn our way around this place at some point, huh?” John laughed.

Skaianet University, while still relatively new compared to some of the larger American universities, proudly maintained one of the largest and most diverse campuses in the Midwest. And not just with the student body – the university offered a variety of courses for students of all interests. Its founders and benefactors seemed to be rather elusive and secretive as a whole, but whoever they were, they did one hell of a job getting the university up and running in such a short period of time. The difficult part of being in Skaianet University definitely wasn’t choosing from the myriad of courses, though – it was getting into the college in the first place.

Skaianet University seemed to be extremely selective when choosing from its lengthy list of applicants. But they didn’t just pick the cream of the crop for admission; one student with perfect grades and a lengthy resume might be glossed over to allow the kid with a GED and ten cents to his name instead. Not a single student knew exactly why they were admitted into such an exclusive university – although each surely had their own guesses. They merely knew they were there, and didn’t question it. Trying to figure out the whys and hows would ultimately end up being more trouble than it was worth.

But then, it was a mystery how the four friends – who had all planned on going their separate ways – ended up together again at Skaianet. Dave had always intended on applying for admission there; his Bro had gotten in without a single problem, and Dave expected the same. But Rose, John, and Jade had all had rather different plans for their respective futures. It was almost more than purely coincidental that they should all end up together like they had planned as children, rather than following their individual paths. Dave made a mental note to ask the others about how they ended up here, if they even got the chance to legitimately hang out for once.

John got out his phone and began fiddling with a few of the buttons as he and Dave walked down the street towards the main campus, and then finally spoke up.

“Hey, once we get where ever we’re headed, why don’t we call Jade and Rose? They could come meet us. Since, you know, I guess I don’t remember even seeing them at the party last night? Haha.”

“That’s cool. Like you said last night, we haven’t all hung out yet. I guess that’d be pretty legit,” Dave replied.

“Wait, we already had this conversation?”

“Sure did. You also admitted that you’re a flaming homosexual, and you’ve had it hard for Vantas as long as you’ve known him.”

John stopped walking a moment, then chuckled and caught up to Dave. “Okay, now I know for a fact that you’re just messing with me,” he said with a sigh of relief. “I am so not a homosexual.”

“Denial’s the first stage, man.”

John slapped a hand to his forehead and groaned in exasperation.

The two had reached the central campus, and they stopped in their tracks to look around at everything before them. Coffee sounded good to Dave, especially seeing as how it was still early to him. Anytime before noon was early to him. He walked towards the entrance of one of the few cafés nearby and opened the doors, and he and John stopped in front of some of the plush armchairs.

John started dialing his phone. “I’ll give them both a call, if you want to go get something,” he told Dave as he put the phone up to his ear. Dave nodded, dropped his backpack by one of the armchairs, and walked up to the counter.

“Rose? Hey! You busy? Come meet Dave and I--”


	6. Chapter 6

Dave returned to the armchairs just as John finished chatting happily and ended his call.

“They’re close by, so they’ll be here soon,” John told him as Dave lazily plopped his rump onto a plush chair. “So, what else did I miss last night?”

“Besides Vantas spiking your apple juice, and then you declaring your undying boy-love for him, you mean?” Dave answered between sips of his coffee.

“Oh man, I really hope you’re joking,” John moaned.

Dave chuckled. “Other than that, not a lot. You passed out, and like I said, Serket had to help me haul your ass upstairs. She looked like she wanted to jump your bones or something, I swear.”

“Really? Jeez.”

“She’s had some kinda thing for you since we were in high school,” Dave shrugged. “But she keeps denying it.”

John nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like Vriska. Hehe, I never really thought about her that way, to be honest! I always just figured she was super worried about me all the time cause we were pretty close bros.”

“Egbert, you and her are the only ones who don’t know about her huge fat crush on you. Even Lalonde’s dead cat probably knows, as impossible as that is.”  
“You know, Dave, a girl might be offended, what with you talking so nonchalantly about the deceased. And about my deceased feline, at that.”

“Rose, hey!” John exclaimed. Rose and jade stood next to Dave’s armchair. Jade smiled and waved, while Rose kept an amused smirk trained towards Dave.

“Not even five seconds into your arrival, and we’re already nearly knee-deep in your psychobabble. Doctor Lalonde is in the house, everyone,” Dave said, motioning towards his blonde friend. Rose did a small (but elegant) curtsy in response. Jade giggled, and the two girls took a seat on a couch next to the guys.

“Oh, I wouldn’t get into an analysis on you today, Strider,” Rose explained, smoothing out a wrinkle on her black skirt. “Even though it would be entertaining. I could fill quite a few journals with the findings within the first hour alone, I’m sure. Care to schedule an appointment?”

“Ugh, no. I’m pretty sure that’d just be worse torture than reading one of your old wizard fanfics again,” Dave muttered. Jade and John both laughed.

“So are you saying you have read them, Dave?” Jade asked, grinning.

“Yes, Dave, tell us: have you read my works? Please, tell me what you thought; I would love to hear your critique.”

Dave looked at Rose incredulously, then sat up and prepared his best impression of a haughty book critic. “Well, Miss Lalonde, after reading your latest work, ‘Absorbing the Darkness Within,’ I have come to the conclusion that it was…” He paused for dramatic effect. John and Jade made expectant, intrigued, over-exaggerated faces. “Enlightening.” Dave adjusted his sunglasses, and Rose rolled her eyes. John and Jade burst into furious giggles, and Rose and Dave followed suit with a few light chuckles. After their laughter died down a little more, John took a deep breath to calm himself.

“Phew! Haha, I think I’m gonna go get something to eat now. I doubt their pastries here are Crocker confectionaries, so I’m jumping on this while I can!” he joked, and got up from his chair.

Rose also stood, and rummaged in her bag for her money. “I think I’ll go along too; I could go for a nice tea of some sort. Jade, would you like anything?” she asked, turning towards the wavy-haired girl.

“Oh! If you could get me a latte, that would be amazing! Thanks Rose! I’ll pay you back as soon as I find my coin purse, promise.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rose smiled. She and John walked over to the cashier to order, John animatedly chattering.

Jade smiled at Dave. “This is really great,” she said, grabbing a pillow off the couch and setting it in her lap. “I was wondering when we’d finally get to see each other again!”

Dave sipped his coffee. “Yeah, it is pretty nice. Heh, it’s just like how we were online.”

“Tell me about it!!” Jade giggled. “But that’s cool, cause at least now we don’t have to worry about all those awkward silences or something, you know? I bet loads of friends online have to get through all that stuff when they first meet!”

“Probably. But nope, not us. We’re all pretty much as chill as it gets, huh?”

“Oh yeah, so cool!” Jade made finger-pistols pointed at Dave and winked, and the two laughed. “So what classes do you have picked out?”

“Oh right, we never got to compare schedules during orientation, did we?” Dave asked.

“Nope! None of us did. We should all compare and see if we’re in anything together! I’m in a little bit of environmental stuff, but there are a few freshman things to do, too.”

“They stuck me in a bunch of freshman classes too. All that special ‘Babby’s First College Course’ sort of stuff.”

“Well, if we’re all in the same ones together, they’ll be a lot easier to deal with, don’t you think?”

Dave nodded. “I sure as hell hope so.”

“What do you hope?” John asked as he fell back into his armchair, arms full of pastries and coffee. Rose also took her seat and handed a drink to Jade, who cheerfully thanked her.

“We were talking about classes! We didn’t get a chance to trade schedules at orientation, so we should do it now!” Jade exclaimed cheerfully.

John’s face lit up. “Oh, hey, that’s a great idea!” He glanced around, looking for something. “Who has paper we can write on?”

Dave remembered the notebook he threw into his backpack, and went to retrieve it. He opened the zipper, located the notebook, and set it on the coffee table before the group. He went to go close the backpack and noticed the purse inside of it – shit. He forgot he brought it along. Why’d he bring it, anyway? He had to be careful not to let the others see it.

“I don’t have a pen though,” Dave said, zipping the backpack and dropping it to the ground again.

Rose got her own purse out and found a simple black pen. “A writer always has a journal and pen handy,” she explained. She took Dave’s notebook and wrote down each of the kids’ names. “So, John, let’s start with you. What are you in?” She passed the notebook to him to write in.

“Me? Let’s see,” John wandered aloud, stuffing a pastry with jam into his mouth. A bit of his got on his cheek. He swallowed, then began scribbling in the notebook. “I’m in English, Basic Principles of Finance, Political Science, and Programming.” He scribbled the dates and times on the notebook, and passed it to Dave.

Dave took the pen and wrote his own schedule down. “Alright, here we go. Foundations of Music Theory, English, Drawing and Painting, and Intro to Filmography.” He passed the notebook to Jade.

“Hehe, I’m taking fun classes! English, Environmental Sciences, Art History, and Drawing and Painting!” Jade wrote out her schedule, doodled something next to it, and handed the papers to Rose.

“On my end, I have Philosophy, Psychology, Classical Literature, and English, of course.” Rose wrote down her own schedule, and then glanced over the entire document. “And with the addition of my classes, let’s see here,” she mumbled, running her finger down the list. “Looks like we got lucky; we’re all in the same English course. And Jade and Dave are in their art class together.”

“Ooh, we are?” Jade asked excitedly, clapping her hands. “This is going to be a load of fun, Dave!”

“Yeah, sounds cool. At least I’ll have someone who can keep me awake, since it’s a morning class,” he replied, and finished off his coffee. He took his notebook back from Rose, and returned it to his backpack, nestled snugly against the purse inside.


	7. Chapter 7

After a few hours of laughing and chatting, John sat up out of his chair and stretched. A few crumbs of pastry that he didn’t quite wipe off earlier fell from his shirt. He tried brushing the rest off, then spoke.

“Whelp, I guess I better head back to my dorm,” he told the others. “There are a few things I have to do before classes start tomorrow, like run out and buy the rest of my textbooks.”

“Oh yeah,” Jade murmured. “Classes do start tomorrow. Hey, mind if I tag along with you? I still need to pick up my art history book from the bookstore as well! And I have to get some more pens and pencils, since I can’t find any of mine.”

John nodded. “Sure! Company is fine by me, as long as you don’t mind stopping by my dorm first.”

Jade gave him a thumbs up and giggled. “No problem here!”

“Cool!” John looked over at Rose, and then to Dave. “Well, I guess I will see you guys in class on Tuesday, huh?”

“I’m sure we’ll be there. Or at least I will be. I can’t say much about Strider; he’ll probably be too busy still catching up on his ‘beauty sleep’ to even get to a two o’clock class,” Rose remarked, smirking.

Dave held up his hands. “Hey now,” he said. “Beauty sleep is pretty damn important. Can’t get these radically good looks for nothing, you know? Maybe you should try it sometime, Lalonde.”

“Oh, no, I have no need to. See, I got the good genes in our family, Strider.”

“Oh, excuse me, Barbie.”

Jade giggled. “Jeez, you can totally tell you two are related, just from the way you go back and forth.”

“Don’t remind me,” Dave replied, a small smile forming on his face.

“For once, I have to agree with what Strider said. One can only hope that while I apparently took his share of looks, he got my share of genetic social disorders,” Rose shrugged.

Dave let out half a laugh. “Ha! I’m sure you got your fair share, Lalonde. No one in our family is exactly normal. I mean, look at your Mom and my Bro. Yup, perfect family, right there.”

Jade laughed again. “Well, we’d better get going,” she said, getting off the couch and walking over to stand with John. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow, Dave!” She waved happily at he and Rose, and left with John.

“And then there were two,” Dave said, looking back at Rose.

“Actually, there will just be you, in a moment. I have a few more things to do, myself,” Rose told him, finishing off the last of her tea.

“Huh. Well, then I guess there isn’t much of a reason for me to stick around here, either. Nothing cool about a bro chilling in a café alone.”  
Rose stood up, and Dave did the same.

“Yes,” she replied. “You would surely be ridiculed for eons.” Dave chuckled and put his fist out towards her. With a slight smile, Rose obliged the fist bump, and then turned to walk away. “I’ll be seeing you, Strider,” she said, and left the café.

Dave stood around for a second, and then picked up his backpack. Everyone else had stuff to get, but he was pretty much prepared for classes well before they started. That was a surprise. He chalked it up to living closer to the university, as well as having Bro already enrolled; he didn’t have to do a lot of planning or moving like the others did. So all he had left to do was chill and wait for classes to begin.

He decided to walk back to the Kappa Delta Rho house; at the very least, he could shut himself in his room and hammer out a few new remixes or something with all his free time. He managed to escape the certain doom of having to clean the house by absconding early, so he wasn’t probably going to be stuck with any of the chores once he returned. The fraternity pledges, however, were probably knee-deep in cleaning duties, and knowing Bro and the other KDR brothers, they would have humiliated them while doing it – probably with maid outfits or something equally embarrassing. Dave decided that avoiding the pledges altogether was probably the best plan of action.

Dave arrived at the KDR house and was slightly taken aback by the spotless yard. The pledges had done a damn good job so far. He walked up the short steps and entered the house. Right away, at least three pledges turned their attention towards Dave; their expressions fell from curiosity into supreme rage nigh-instantaneously. Dave stopped walking for a second, shrugged, and moved to go upstairs and just not interact with the pledges at all. Probably for the best anyway; the majority of KDR pledges were rather upset with Dave for getting grandfathered into the fraternity and skipping the pledge duties. It wasn’t his fault Bro was a huge dick to everyone but his family. No, Bro was a huge dick to his family, as well. But just slightly less of one than usual.  
Hopping up the stairs two at a time, Dave made his way to his room, entered, and shut the door. He nearly tripped on the blanket still lying on the floor; he forgot he had left them there. After regaining his balance, he threw his backpack on the bed and gathered up the blanket and pillow on the floor. He folded them haphazardly and stuffed them back into his closet shelf. There, room was clean enough now. He took his backpack off the bed and sat down in his desk chair. He retrieved the notebook everyone had written their schedules in and left it on his desk. He figured it’d come in handy in case he ever needed to track down John or something. He dug around in the backpack and pulled out the purse.

Well, if he had free time, he might as well sift through this thing again. He opened the purse up and pulled out the things he had already looked at – the coin purse, mini hairbrush and makeup, pens and pencils, the summery perfume. Why did girls carry so much stuff anyway? After taking out all the other stuff, there were only two things left in the purse: an iPod and a little journal.

Dave grabbed the iPod and started flipping through the artists. There was a bit of pop – and old school pop, at that. Stuff like N*Sync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears. There was a lot of music from the 50’s and 60’s – stuff you would hear on an oldies radio station. He was relatively unimpressed by the music selection as a whole; nothing was particularly standing out, with the exception of a few gems here and there. The iPod had the Fratellis, Ludo, Incubus, Snoop Dogg… Dave smiled. There were some of his favorites in here. Whoever the girl was, her taste in music wasn’t the best thing to grace anyone’s ears, but Dave had to admit; it wasn’t half bad. Not particularly wanting to listen to any one artist, he flipped to the playlist section and chose a random one titled “alternate.” Curious, he placed the iPod onto his speakers, and pressed play.

The music started; the first song was by a band named Evans Blue. It was called ‘Eclipsed,’ and started out with some light guitar and drums, and added some rather rhythmic bass in the back as the song went on. It was a rather somber song, but still pretty good. Dave was a little impressed; he figured the iPod would be full of cheesy poppy crap that most girls – or at least the ones that attended the parties like KDR’s – loved. He was wrong, which felt good. Finally, someone with somewhat decent taste.

Dave took a look at the journal sitting on the desk. He debated for a moment or two about whether he should read it or not; for one, it was this huge invasion of privacy, and if mystery girl ever found out, blah, blah, blah. In other words: Bad Dave, Worst Pursefinder. But on the other hand, she probably shouldn’t have been carrying her diary with her anyway. She could easily lose it – which she obviously did – and then someone like Dave would read it. Whoops. Well, she had to see it coming. It was probably just a plain little notebook for writing grocery lists or schedules or something in.  
Dave picked up the journal, untied the string holding it closed, and opened it up to the first page.


	8. Chapter 8

Dave was surprised to find drawings instead of writing. He had expected a ‘dear diary’ entry or two gushing about boys, maybe some cheesy girl drama – the kind of stuff dumb chick flicks thrive on. But no, this journal was more of a sketchbook. Dave quickly flipped through the pages as if they made one of those moving image books; the journal was only about half full. There were a few pages with words, but compared to the ones with drawings, they seemed pretty rare. Dave decided the best option would be to just read them as he got to them, in order.

He flipped back to the first page with the first drawing and looked at it for a while. It was drawn in pen, mostly – black ink on white paper. A sphere sat in the middle of the page, covered in a checkerboard pattern. Though it clearly wasn’t earth, it still had mountains, lush flora and trees growing on it, and bodies of water – all of which were highlighted with what looked like colored pencil, and seemed to almost leap off the page in a swirl of artistic mastery. The sky directly surrounding the planet was a baby blue, but faded into black that touched the edges of the page.

Dave was impressed once more. It was astonishing. If this was a doodle, then what would an actual piece or artwork look like? Mystery girl was just getting cooler the more he learned about her. She was more than just cosmetics and cute puppy dog bobble head pens. She was an artist. And a good one, at that.  
The next page of the journal-sketchbook was mostly black, with a spectrum of color weaving across it. It took a moment or two to figure it out, but the colors formed the shapes of the various constellations in the night sky. The colors changed across the page from red to purple. It was simple, but still really nice.

The third page was bright; much brighter than those before it. Golden yellows splashed across the page, dancing and covering every inch of what looked like a grand city. Atlantis, maybe? It looked lavish and prosperous, teeming with the feeling of being solid and safe. It was pretty, although Dave wasn’t exactly partial to the brightness of it all. A quote swirled around one of the towers of the city. It read, “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun.” Dave briefly wondered what the other two things were. He turned the page.

Almost exactly like the previous page, this one also depicted a sprawling city. The biggest difference, however, was in the color scheme; the first cityscape had been a luminescent gold. This page was coated in purples of all hues, from lavender to royal. Whereas the first city had looked lush and lively, this one felt calmer, more somber, and silent. Its buildings were drawn closer together, so the city as a whole seemed to be denser. Still, though, Dave felt drawn towards it. He wasn’t sure if it was because he simply liked the colors more, or what… but he couldn’t take his eyes away from the drawing. He ran his finger along the edges of the buildings, until he came across a pair of words: “the moon.” That must have been the second thing.

Reluctant to leave the lavish violet metropolis behind, Dave turned the page slowly. Instead of another cityscape, as he had expected, a simple room was drawn. Aside from being completely green, it looked like an ordinary parlor room. A fireplace sat along a wall, with a coat rack and a couch nearby. There was a rather ornate desk with a typewriter perched upon it. Actually, upon a more careful look, the entire room was ornate, covered in swirling designs and detailed furniture. The only thing in the room that was not green, strangely enough, was a bowl of candy. The candies were bright blue and in the shape of tiny dogs. Written beside the bowl were two final words: “the truth.”

Dave stared at the page a little longer; he couldn’t help but feel like it was supposed to mean something more than just the plain fact that it was a drawing. Finally, after trying to find hidden details in the image a little longer, he turned the page. Surprisingly, there wasn’t anything elaborate on this one; just a single poem with a tiny color doodle – four figures in orange, blue, red, and black – floating above it.

Days full of life  
And sleepless knights,  
A whirlwind still left to divine;  
Time ticks on in forgotten lands  
Surpassed by seers of light.  
A page hath turned,  
A tale begun;  
A story yet to unfold.  
Two will ascend as one is slain,  
Rebirth, renewal, rejuvenation -  
Ascension with a common goal.

Dave stared at the poem for a few minutes, trying to make sense of it. He got nothing. He sighed, and pulled the ribbon bookmark attached to the spine, and placed it on the poem’s page. He had barely noticed it while looking through the journal, but the music had stopped playing. The playlist must have finished while was distracted. Dave figured that he had done enough snooping for one day, although the journal did seem to keep calling his name. He set it down, and decided to see what other music was on mystery girl’s iPod, and maybe throw a bit of his own stuff on there. Nothing like a shameless self-insert.


	9. Chapter 9

That night, Dave fell asleep to another one of the playlists on mystery girl’s iPod; soft melodies ushered Dave into a dream filled with the magnificent cities he saw in the drawings. He flew above and through each of the locations – first the golden acropolis, then the close-knit purple city, and finally, into the green manor. He stopped and landed once entering the room. After a couple of glances around, he found what he was looking for. Right near where the words had been placed on the picture in the journal, a bowl of candies sat. Dave reached towards the bowl of blue candies, but the moment his hand touched one, his surroundings faded into black.

The next thing he knew, he was awake, listening to his phone repeat its incessant alarm tone. Dave fumbled around, trying to turn the damn thing off. Finally, he got the noise to stop, and took a look at the time. 7:15 in the morning. Dave didn’t care what the hell it was for; 7:15 was too fucking early. Begrudgingly, he rolled out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. After showering, he threw on a standard outfit and piled the books he needed for the day into his backpack. He noticed the purse sitting on the floor beside the desk, and put that into his backpack as well; he figured he might as well ask John if he knew anything about it. After all, he was sitting next to it for a while, whether he remembered it clearly or not. Dave took the iPod out of the player and grabbed his headphones, and began walking to his first class: drawing and painting.

The walk to the fine arts building wasn’t a long one; as big as Skaianet University was, getting from place to place was pretty easy. It also helped that the Kappa Delta Rho house was nearby. The sun was already shining bright, even though it was early. Dave yawned, glad to have his sunglasses. That way, his tired eyes didn’t have to adjust to the direct sunlight.

Once he arrived at the building, he went in and located his classroom. It was large, with several easels and smaller desks arranged around the room in a circle. They surrounded a small pedestal. Dave chose one of the easels with its back to the window and sat down. A few other students were already in the room, seated behind their own easels, fiddling with paintbrushes or pencils or coffee. Or all of the above. Dave began zoning out for a few minutes, when he noticed a girl in a green tank top walk into the room. He shook his head, regaining his focus.

“Ooh, you got a couple of good seats!” she exclaimed excitedly, making her way over to Dave. Her bubbly personality almost made her glow; several people looked at her, curious as to why she was so cheery, so early.

Dave raised a hand in greeting. “Sup, Harley?” he asked.

“Hehe, not much, Dave! Sup with you?” she replied, setting down her bag. She took a seat at the easel next to him.

“Oh, you know. Not being awake enough. Still somehow being the coolest motherfucker alive. The usual.”

Jade giggled. “I see that! Oh, if only all of us could hope to be as cool as you.”

Dave adjusted his sunglasses slightly and crossed his arms. “Yeah, every kid wishes to be as rad as me. But not even the Make-a-Wish people could grant that one. I’m pretty sure there can only be one Strider who is this wicked sweet.” He yawned.

“And tired too, apparently,” Jade teased, reaching over and poking his cheek. Dave shook his head, smirking slightly. “Next time, I’ll get us both some coffee before class, how about that?”

“I’d owe you one, that’s for damn sure.”

“Oh, really? Then in that case, I’ll definitely have to get us some coffee! Nothing like having an I.O.U. from one Dave Strider!”

Dave nodded and gave her an approving thumbs up. Coffee sounded damn good right about now, but it was likely too close to the beginning of class to run out and get some. Dave wondered for a bit about how long it would take to run to the café and back and still just appear ‘fashionably late’ to class, if that was a thing. …It probably wasn’t possible. Just as he finished that train of thought, the professor walked into the classroom, a tall woman in her mid-forties. She seemed rather flustered and in a rush; probably because she was nearly late for her own class. She shuffled into the room in a hurry, dropped a few pencils and folders, tripped over said items, finally made her way over to her own desk, and set down her belongings. She let out a tired breath, brushing her hair out of her face.

“I’m sorry about that, everyone!” she announced to the classroom, garnering the attention of the few who hadn’t watched her slightly embarrassing entrance into the room. She clapped her hands and began welcoming the group of fifteen or so students gathered around, seated at their own individual easels. Jade’s eyes gleamed, eager to listen closely. Dave chuckled under his breath, and turned his attention to the professor.

“Let me be the very first to welcome you to my drawing and painting course! My name is Padma Milton, and I’ll be your professor. Feel free to just call me Padma; this isn’t a really formal place at all!” She smiled. “So, as you know, this is class is all about drawing and painting. I’ve got a lot of interesting and fun projects lined up for this semester, so you’re in for a good class. I hope.” Padma shuffled nervously in her place and looked around the room.

“Kind of fidgety, isn’t she?” Dave whispered to Jade. Jade giggled, then put her finger to her lips to shoosh him. The professor continued speaking.

“Since today is just the first day, and we have a lot of work ahead of us, I thought we might just take it easy and do a little work on our own. Occasionally, I’ll have you branch off from whatever project we’re doing and work on something of your own. It sucks when you have to work on something for a long time and then get all burned out, doesn’t it? Anyway, for today, I want you to each use whatever utensils you’d like – pencil, pen, paint, whatever – and create something on the easels in front of you. I want it to be based off a memory or experience. Introduce yourselves to me, through this canvas.” She smiled kindly at the circle of students. “That way, I can also get a little bit of an idea on where we should start our lessons! So, whenever you’re ready, hop to it!”

Jade squeaked happily. “This is going to be fun, huh, Dave?” she asked him, beaming. She gathered her hair into a loose ponytail and began tying it off as she continued. “I already have an idea or two about what to do. What about you?”

Dave watched as she finished tying her hair up, and glanced over to the empty canvas before him. “I have no clue,” he murmured quietly, trying to think of something he could do. Suddenly the thought of the journal popped into his head – the cities he saw, as well as the planet and mansion. Dave had really felt drawn to the purple metropolis when he initially saw it.

“Actually,” he said, digging around in his backpack for a pencil, “I do have an idea.”

“Oooh, really? What is it?” Jade asked him, leaning on the edge of her stool.

“Nope, can’t tell,” Dave replied, turning his easel away from her in an exaggerated motion.

“Oh, come on!” Jade whined, playfully poking his shoulder. “You’ve gotta tell me now.”

Dave shook his head. “Nope! You’ll just have to see.”

Jade sighed. “Give me a hint, maybe?” she asked, sticking her tongue out at him. Dave thought for a second about what he could say, without giving it away exactly. He did like impressing his friends, even if it was just Jade, and a secret was a good thing now and again.

“I got the idea from someone mysterious, I guess,” he finally replied. It wasn’t much of a hint, but it would have to do.

“From someone, huh? Who?” Jade wondered. She already began sketching over her canvas with pencil.

“No one you know, probably,” Dave told her matter-of-factly. He decided it would be a good idea to change the subject, before he had to start discussing mystery girl with her. “So what’s your big idea?”

“Well, if you’re going to keep yours a big secret, then I’m just going to do the same with mine!” she laughed, drawing line after line onto the canvas. “I guess you could say that I saw it in my dreams, though.”


End file.
